Jeff Samardzija and Travis Bergen each allowed a pair of home runs in the loss

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Jeff Samardzija (29) of the San Francisco Giants pitches in the second inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 17, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Jeremy Hellickson (58) of the Washington Nationals pitches in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Nationals Park on April 17, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Brandon Belt (9) of the San Francisco Giants celebrates with Kevin Pillar (1) after scoring on an RBI single by Evan Longoria (10) (not pictured) in the fourth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 17, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Brandon Crawford (35) of the San Francisco Giants grounds out to second base, scoring Buster Posey (not pictured) in the fourth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 17, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Adam Eaton (2) of the Washington Nationals celebrates after scoring on a two-run home run by Juan Soto (22) in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Nationals Park on April 17, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Howie Kendrick (47) of the Washington Nationals celebrates with Wilmer Difo (1) after hitting a solo home run in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Nationals Park on April 17, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A day after hitting a season-high three home runs en route to a series-opening win, the Giants allowed a new 2019 high of four in a loss to the Washington Nationals.

Giants starter Jeff Samardzija surrendered a pair of homers in the first inning before reliever Travis Bergen let a close game get out of hand late by giving up two in the seventh in a 9-6 loss. Despite forcing the Nationals to use each of their top relievers in a four-run ninth-inning, the Giants dug too deep of a hole to pull off a miracle comeback against an anemic Washington bullpen.

“They fought, they tried to make a heck of a comeback,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

The Giants flipped the script they’ve followed early in the season with an offensive explosion on Tuesday, but the Nationals restored order in game two of the series with a solid effort at the plate and in the field.

San Francisco entered the ninth inning trailing 9-2 but outfielders Gerardo Parra and Steven Duggar each hit two-run home runs to turn a blowout into a respectable loss.

The loss moved the Giants to 8-11 on the season and dropped them 3.5 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.

“We’re like 18 games in right now and there’s so much baseball to go,” catcher Buster Posey said. “You try to just segment the season as much as you can.”

As the Giants look to clinch their second straight series win on Thursday, here are three big things we learned in Wednesday’s defeat.

1. Giants miss their chance to stun Nats

Of the many lessons the Giants learned during the first five years this decade, one of the most important was that a contending club should never underestimate the importance and value of a strong bullpen.

The Nationals plan to contend in 2019, but Washington is not equipped to shut the door late in games. Through their first 15 games, Nationals relievers posted a major league-worst 7.83 ERA and allowed a league-high .308 batting average against.

Manager Davey Martinez only has two trustworthy relievers –Sean Doolittle and Kyle Barraclough– and against the Giants, Martinez needed his bullpen to get 10 outs after pulling starter Jeremy Hellickson following 5 2/3 innings. Despite trailing 4-2 in the sixth, the Giants liked their chances against Washington because their own bullpen was the best in baseball before Wednesday.

Instead of narrowing the gap, the Giants allowed it to widen. By a lot.

Former Nationals right-hander Trevor Gott allowed a leadoff hit to start the seventh before Bergen surrendered a pair of home runs. The first was hit by Giants nemesis Matt Adams, who fought off a two-strike fastball before launching the next pitch over the right field wall.

“We had two outs and two strikes, no runs in and they end up scoring five,” Bochy said. “The kid has been throwing well. He just made a couple of mistakes there.”

Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki added on later in the inning with a two-run shot and it turns out, the Nationals needed that cushion. By the time Parra hit his first home run of the season and the Giants showed signs of life, the game had already slipped away as the Giants allowed a season-high nine runs.

If Bergen had surrendered just one home run instead of two, the ending might have felt a little more tense. After Duggar homered, the Giants forced Martinez to call on Barraclough and Doolittle who salvaged the game for the Nationals.

“It’s not surprising, it’s great to see to get into their bullpen a bit even in a loss,” Samardzija said. “Get a few guys up more than they wanted to and those things always carry over into the next day and the day after that.”

2. Three true outcomes for Shark

After turning in his best start in 20 months on Thursday, Samardzija faced a deep Nationals lineup and struggled with his command in the first two innings.

Samardzija’s Achilles’ heel has always been a propensity to allow too many home runs, but through three starts this year, the right-hander had yet to allow any. That changed in the first inning Wednesday as left fielder Juan Soto and second baseman Howie Kendrick each smashed loud homers to push the Nationals ahead 3-0.

“I talk about it a lot, about being ahead in the count and being able to make the pitches that you want and I feel like we were behind in the count a lot today,” Samardzija said.

Samardzija allowed a two-out, run-scoring single in the second, but finished his night with three consecutive scoreless innings and helped the Giants stay competitive against a Nationals club that has suffered a slew of late-game meltdowns early in the season.

Of the 21 batters Samardzija faced, 11 finished their plate appearances with one of three true outcomes: A home run, a walk or a strikeout. Six of those true outcomes came in the first, as two balls left the yard, one hitter walked and three Nationals players struck out.

While Samardzija has dealt with the home run issue for much of his career, he isn’t the type of pitcher who racks up a ton of strikeouts or nibbles around the zone to the point where he walks a lot of hitters. Much has been made of the way Samardzija has been forced to adapt his approach after missing the end of last season due to a shoulder injury, but Wednesday’s start is another sign of how much baseball has changed in recent years.

It’s likely rare that more than half of the hitters Samardzija faces in an outing homer, walk or strike out, and while many fans prefer to see more balls in play, Wednesday is an indication baseball is moving in a different direction.

3. Defense gives, takes away

The Giants entered the series leading all of baseball in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and for the second straight day, San Francisco started its best defensive unit against the Nationals. The Giants outfield has tallied 14 DRS this season –six more than the next-closest team in baseball (St. Louis)– while the Nationals ranked among the weaker defenses coming into Wednesday’s game.

For as good as the Giants have been defensively, the Nationals were even better at critical points early in Wednesday’s game as Soto, center fielder Victor Robles and third baseman Anthony Rendon all made important plays behind starter Jeremy Hellickson.

In the third, Robles fired a strike to Rendon at third base to catch Giants right fielder Steven Duggar tagging up to record the final out of the inning. Upon reviewing a TV replay, Duggar appeared safe at third, but the Giants elected not to challenge the play. Duggar committed a brutal mental mistake by making the third out of an inning at third base, but it took a sensational throw from Robles to prevent him from keeping the inning alive.

In the fifth, Rendon and Soto helped Hellickson escape a jam as Rendon made a diving stop to rob a hit from Buster Posey while Soto leaped in the air to snag a line drive down the left field line from Brandon Crawford.

“It’s a game of inches, we always say it,” Bochy said. “If Craw hits that ball to left another few inches, it’s a tie ball game. They fought back, it’s just that big inning that hurt us.”

Kerry Crowley is a multimedia beat reporter covering the San Francisco Giants. He spent his early days throwing curveballs in San Francisco’s youth leagues before studying journalism at Arizona State University. Kerry has covered every level of baseball, from local preps to the Cape Cod League, and is now on a quest to determine which Major League city serves the best cheeseburger.